Norway
Basics Norway has three mobile networks: * Telenor * Telia '(formerly NetCom), now merged with '''Tele2 '(by Network Norway) after being acquired by Telia * 'ice.net '(4G/LTE, no prepaid, free national roaming on Telia outside of its own network) Telenor is still market leader closely followed by Telia that has taken over third-ranked Tele2 in 2015. The Telia and Tele2 networks are now merged and roam through national network sharing. 2G is on 900 and 1800 MHz, 3G on 900 and 2100 MHz and 4G/LTE started on 800, 1800 and 2600 MHz (Bands 1, 7, 20) on all operators. Coverage is excellent even in outlying areas. Another provider sold under the brand of '''ice.net '''run by Access Industries offers mobile broadband based on 4G/LTE on 450, 800 and 1800 MHz with a pretty large footprint all over the country, and since 2015 also offers regular mobile postpaid plans with free national roaming on Telia outside its own mobile network. But both are limited to contract subscribers and not offered on prepaid. That's why it remains inaccessible to visitors and is not covered here any further. '''Regulations Although Norway is not part of the EU, it is part of the wider European Economic Area (EEA), and as such roaming rates are regulated like all over the EU. Foreigners have to buy the starter pack in a shop showing their photo ID for registration. The operators and most of the MVNOs are geared to contract customers, so there is only a rather limited choice of prepaid SIM cards, which are locally called Kontantkort. SIM cards in Norway need to be registered in your name. Locals have various choices of venues at which to register, but visitors are advised to go to a branded store or sales point of the provider to do the registration, showing their passport or EEA national identity card. Coverage Many public places and public transport are covered by WiFi. For instance, the shuttle bus from Oslo airport to the city centre has free WiFi. Norwegian airline provides free WiFi, many ferries and metro trains as well. So you might not need mobile internet rightaway. Populated areas have very good mobile network coverage, even at some remote mountains areas or fjords. The Svalbard archipelago (including its main island Spitsbergen) is covered by all Norwegian providers as well. 3G shut down The Norwegian providers have confirmed plans to shut down their 3G networks in Norway by 2020 and to re-use the spectrum for their 4G/LTE networks. Telenor's 3G network will be decommissioned gradually, on a regional basis, starting in January 2019. Norway is not part of the EU, but of the wider EEA where from June 2017 new international roaming rules are enforced. In most European countries you can now 'roam like at home' at domestic rates rather than excessive roaming rates. Most Norwegian providers have implemented the principles without any restrictions on prepaid plans. For specifics about the new regulation check European Union chapter and every provider below. Telenor Telenor is market leader in Norway with more than 50% of the national users on its network. It has a good coverage and speeds throughout the country: Telenor Coverage map. 4G/LTE is available for prepaid. Starting in 2019 Telenor will gradually shut down their 3G network to be switched off by 2020. Availability Their prepaid SIM is called Telenor Kontant. It's sold at Telenor shops (store locator), for NOK 199 including NOK 50 of credit, as well as many convenience stores like Narvesen, 7-Eleven, Deli de Luca, Mix and electronic retailers, where the price can be as low as NOK 49 including NOK 50 of credit (e.g. at the 7-Eleven shop next door to the MyCall shop in Oslo). For travellers entering through Oslo Gardermoen Airport (OSL), there is a cellphone retailer (shop sign: "Mobiles") in the main terminal, next to the rental car counter. Travellers need to provide their passports and the address of your country and Norway (hotel). Many shop attendants in convenience stores won't do the registration. Instead, better drop by the mobile or electronic dedicated stores or a Telenor store to purchase the SIM card. Mini/micro/nano SIM cards are available for NOK 200 start-up with NOK 50 credit. Mini SIM card is pre-cut into micro/nano size. To check your account balance, send SMS with text SALDO to number 2525. You can also call the service number 91500500 (Norwegian only). You can try to top-up using an EU-issued credit card on Telenor website, but they accept mainly Scandinavian credit cards only. Instead, vouchers can be bought at any convenience store in the country. Additional credit can be topped up with the minimum of NOK 200. The vouchers are in Norwegian language only but the top-up menu can be switched to English. If you buy the credits at places like 7-Eleven, they will print out a "Ladekode" (top-up code) with instructions in Norwegian. You can follow instructions (ask the cashier of 7-Eleven if you can't read Norwegian, but it's not their duty to help you). You can top-up credit by the calling phone given in the instruction. But this phone line doesn't have an English menu, so you might need another help from the staff. You enter the "Ladekode" and that's it. You might need to reboot the phone to update carrier database. if you use an iPhone. Your credit will be valid for 15 month after any recharge. After 15 months you will have 2 more months to recharge so that your prepaid card will not be blocked. If this does not happen, the prepaid card will be canceled and you will have to buy a new one. They also block the prepaid card after 12 months if they have not recorded any traffic on it, either inbound or outbound. Any loaded credit will be lost. Check your balance by texting 'SALDO' to 2525, through their app or on your online profile. Default data rate The SIM card has a flat rate of max. NOK 10 per day for data. If you use more you won't get billed more than NOK 10, but speed will bereduced from max. 300 Mbps to 128 Kbps, when you exceed 500 MB download data per month. Data feature packages These data packages called Datapakker ''are available for the ''Kontantkort, but all of them are very longterm running: * Årskort = ''1 year's package: 200 MB each month for one year: NOK 499 * ''Halvårskort = ''1/2 year's package: 200 MB each month for 6 months: NOK 399 * ''Kvartalskort = ''1/4 year's package: 200 MB each month for 3 months: NOK 299 Shorter-term packages are not available. Activation is texting name to 1999. '''EU roaming' Roam like at home in the EU/EEA is included without surcharges. Prepaid customers roaming in Europe only pay Norwegian prices. More info * Tethering is allowed * APN: telenor * Website in Norwegian only: https://www.telenor.no/privat/mobil/mobilabonnement/kontantkort/ Telia '(formerly NetCom) Telia, formerly called NetCom is Norway's runner up, owned by Swedish Telia Group. After the merger with Tele2, their coverage has surpassed even Telenor's according to latest network tests in 2016: NetCom coverage map, but Telenor won the latest speed test in 2017. Telia Norway said it will gradually phase out its 3G network from end 2018 to free up capacity for 4G and 5G. Migration will be largely complete in 2020. They provide 4G/LTE now without speed caps, covering 98% of population already in 2016. Note that all information published by Telia is in Norwegian, both printed and online. Even the voice prompts when attempting to recharge a PAYG number are in Norwegian only. '''Availability ' Their prepaid product is called ''Telia Smart Kontant''. Take care, there are prepaid SIM cards without the SMART prefix too. It's sold for NOK 99 at Telia stores (store locator), NOK 29 (including NOK 30 credit) at convenience stores, Narvesen, 7-Eleven, Deli de Luca, Mix and many electronic retailers. In promotions and online the starter is sometimes given out for free. It comes with 250 MB and free voice and text for 2 weeks. Recharging balance on the Telia website only works with a Nordic Credit Card. Instead, vouchers can be bought at convenience stores. The vouchers are in Norwegian only, but the recharge menu can be changed to English at the bottom of the page. Check your account balance by dialing *150#. '''Default data rate Without having activated a package or for overuse these rules are applied. NOK 10 per MB up to 100 MB per day. Then internet is blocked, but you can add another 100 MB for the day by texting "DATA PÅFYLL" to 1989. Max. speed ist 220 Mbit/s in download and 35 Mbit/s in upload. Data feature packages You can add these data packages to SMART Kontant valid for 31 days: * 2 GB: NOK 249 * 4 GB: NOK 329 * 6 GB: NOK 379 * 10 GB: NOK 429 * 15 GB: NOK 479 * 20 GB: NOK 529 Purchase is done through their refill app. EU roaming Roam like at home in the EU/EEA and Switzerland is included in all plans and roaming is without surcharges. More info * Tethering: allowed * APN: internet.netcom.no * Website in Norwegian: https://telia.no/privat/kontant MyCall '(formely Lebara Norway) In 2012 Tele2 bought the Norwegian branch of Lebara and sells their prepaid cards through the MyCall brand nowadays. In 2015 Tele2 was acquired by Telia and their networks have been merged. For coverage, check Telia (see above). 4G/LTE is now open for prepaid. '''Availability ' The SIM called ''Kontantkort'' is available for NOK 49 online or discounted to NOK 25 (including NOK 25 credit) at a lot of retailers, which you can find here. If you do not have a Norwegian personal ID number, you will need to register and activate at the point of purchase. A NOK 0.99 start-up fee can be charged. Since at least early 2018, MyCall's only physical shop (Brugata 1, 0186 Oslo), gives out SIM cards, branded as costing NOK 49, for free including NOK 25 of credit. You just need to show identification and give a postal address. The process takes under two minutes. Top-ups can be bought in shops or you can top-up (minimum NOK 50) on their website using international credit cards. Check balance by dialling '''*150#. There is an advance balance check on *151# '''which tells you about your packages and you can change language to English. This service is free. '''Data feature packages Default data rate is NOK 1.99 per MB. Max. speed is 300 Mbit/s; expected speed is 100 Mbit/s. They offer these monthly packages for data valid for 30 days: Packages can be bought online from your credit or by texting the activation code to 06160. Unused data is rolled over to the next month as long as you buy another package. All packages are auto-renewed as long as there is credit. To stop auto-renewal text 'STOPMB' to 06160. EU roaming All allowances are valid in the EU/EEA too for roaming without extra fees. More info * Tethering is allowed * APN: internet * Website in English: https://en.mycall.no/kontantkort Chilimobil Chilimobil is a MVNO that launched on the Telenor network in 2012. Since 2017 it has moved over to Telia network (see above). It has been the first MVNO in Norway to offer 4G/LTE for prepaid. Availablility The prepaid SIM is simply called "Kontantkort" and available at Coop, ICA, Rimi, MIX, Narvesen, 7-Eleven, where you can recharge too. SIM card starter pack costs NOK 29 with NOK 15 credit included. If you don't have a Norwegian passport, insist that your ID data are to be collected at the point of purchase for activation, as you will not be able to do it online without a Norwegian personnummer. You can top-up in more than 3000 outlets in the country. Check balance by texting 'SALDO' to 2595. Data options Their default data rate is NOK 0.99 per MB. This is capped at NOK 15 per day with a maximum of 300 MB per day. The max. speed is at 3 Mbps. They also offer the following packages: * 1 GB: NOK 79 * 3 GB: NOK 149 * 6 GB: NOK 219 * 10 GB: NOK 299 Activate by texting the data amount without spaces to 2258. When you run out of data and do not activate another package, you return the default rate. EU roaming The same rate is valid for roaming in the EU/EEA too without extra fees. More info * APN: netcom * Website in Norwegian: http://www.chilimobil.no/no/kontantkort/ Lycamobile UK-based MVNO Lycamobile is operating in Norway too. It uses the network of Telia on 2G and 3G and finally in 4G/LTE too. Availability As usual the SIM card is free with Lycamobile at their retailers, but you have to make a top-up right away. Top up vouchers are available for NOK 50, 100 or 200 at their outlets or online. Check balance by *150#. Data feature packages Default rate for data, if no package is activated or for overuse is NOK 0.99 per MB. Max. speed is at 16 Mbit/s. The following monthly (for 30 days) data bundles are available: (*) = price is reduced to NOK 249.50 and NOK 349.50 for the first package after subscription. They also offer socalled 'smart' bundles with data, domestic SMS and some call minutes to Norway and IDD to about 12 other European countries valid for 30 days: (*) = these bundles are discounted by up to 50% for their first month of activation only Bundles will automatically renew, if there is credit. To stop dial *190# before expiry. To check data volume, dial *137#. Max speed is at 16 Mbit/s. EU roaming Lycamobile in Norway includes EU/EEA roaming in all data packages up to the specified limit in the tables. If overused, they will charge NOK 0.99 per MB on top. More info * Tethering is blocked. If you plan using tethering for connecting other devices use a different operator. * APN: data.lyca-mobile.no * Username: lmno Password: plus * Website in English (note the unusual spelling of Lycamobile online): http://www.lyca-mobile.no/en/ Chess Chess used to be a MVNO that was sold to Telia in 2006 when they moved all customers from Telenor to Telia network. In 2018-2019 Telia migrated all remaining Chess customers to its own brand (see above) and terminated the Chess brand.Category:Europe Category:Country Category:Lycamobile Category:Telenor Category:Telia Category:10/19